Aurora, Nebraska – Through a competitive procurement process, Hamilton Telephone Company d/b/a Hamilton Telecommunications has been selected as the new Telecommunications Relay Service provider for the State of Utah. Hamilton will begin providing relay services within the state on January 28, 2010.
Relay Utah is a free, 24-hour service that allows individuals who are Hearing, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind or Speech Disabled to communicate with each other via the telephone. Through the use of specialized equipment, relay users communicate freely with friends, family and businesses. When a call is placed through Relay Utah, a Communication Assistant (CA) relays the conversation by voicing typed text to the standard phone user, and by typing everything that is spoken to the relay user. The CA acts as an invisible link between the parties and all calls are kept strictly confidential. Any person is able to initiate a call through Relay Utah by dialing 7-1-1.
"The Utah Public Service Commission is excited to begin using the relay services provided by Hamilton Relay. They have a reputation for providing the highest quality customer service as well as great technical expertise in the features and services they provide. We are pleased to welcome Hamilton Relay to Utah," stated Julie Orchard, Relay Utah's Administrator.
"Hamilton is grateful for the opportunity to serve the relay users of Utah," says Dixie Ziegler, Vice President of Hamilton Relay. "We are committed to providing relay services that are fast, easy to use and rich in features. In addition, we have outstanding individuals working every day to ensure that communities throughout our contracted states are well educated and well informed about relay."
Relay Utah is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by dialing 7-1-1 or the toll-free access number for each specific relay service. Existing toll-free access numbers will remain in effect. There is no charge to use Relay Utah; however, long distance charges do apply. If a long distance carrier is not specified by the relay user, by default, long distance calls will be billed through Sprint.
Relay users are encouraged to complete a customer profile to establish calling preferences, greetings, select a long distance provider, and more by contacting Relay Utah Customer Service at 1-877-831-4782. As part of the transition process, Hamilton Relay Customer Service may contact individuals to clarify and update information contained in existing customer profiles.
About Hamilton Relay
Hamilton Relay offers a variety of services including Telecommunications Relay Service, Captioned Telephone and Internet Relay services. Hamilton provides Telecommunications Relay and/or Captioned Telephone services to 15 states, the District of Columbia, the Island of Saipan and the Virgin Islands. More information is available at hamiltonrelay.com.